Firefighters grappling with a wildfire that has burned out of control for 10 days on California’s scenic coastline, destroying more than 700 homes, sought on Wednesday to defend homes from flames whipped by resurgent Santa Ana winds. The so-called Thomas Fire, already the state’s fifth-largest wildland blaze on record, remained a threat to the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito despite gains made by crews during a lull in the winds a day earlier. “Very high fuel loading, critically low fuel moistures, above average temperatures and single-digit relative humidities will continue to support fire growth on the west, east and north sides of the Thomas Incident,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement.

By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters grappling with a wildfire that has burned out of control for 10 days on California’s scenic coastline, destroying more than 700 homes, sought on Wednesday to defend homes from flames whipped by resurgent Santa Ana winds. The so-called Thomas Fire, already the state’s fifth-largest wildland blaze on record, remained a threat to the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito as darkness fell and winds picked up, fire officials said. “Very high fuel loading, critically low fuel moistures, above average temperatures and single-digit relative humidities will continue to support fire growth on the west, east and north sides of the Thomas incident,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement.

As of Sunday morning, the Thomas Fire had blackened some 173,000 acres across Santa Barbara County and Ventura County, incinerating more than 750 structures and endangering another 15,000. If you are ordered to evacuate, leave immediately,” an alert from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said. Power company Southern California Edison estimated that the Thomas Fire had deprived nearly 90,000 customers of power.

By Thomas Escritt and Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany sought on Saturday to reassure the country’s 3 million people of Turkish descent it would stand by them as a row with Ankara escalates, saying they were not the target of changes to government policy on Turkey. In a letter published in German and Turkish in daily newspaper Bild, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Germany had no quarrel with Turkish people in either country but could not stand by as “innocent” German citizens were jailed. On Friday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble compared Turkey’s detention of six rights activists, including a German, to repression in former communist East Germany.

East Libyan forces have lost at least 12 men, with 35 wounded, in fighting that raged in Benghazi despite a declaration of victory by their commander, medical and military officials said on Friday. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) are trying to sweep up the last pockets of resistance in Sabri, the final neighborhood in which rival armed groups still hold territory after a three-year battle for control of the city. The battle for Benghazi between Haftar’s LNA and an array of Islamist militants and other fighters has been part of a broader conflict since Libya slipped into turmoil following the 2011 fall of strongman Muammar Gaddafi.